If this Juventus season has taught us anything, it’s that things are far from being a perfect kind of world at Continassa these days. That’s why any sort of statement that starts with “In a perfect world” is pretty much something you don’t (and won’t) want to apply to Juve’s 2024-25 campaign unless you simply feel like driving yourself into a fit of craziness.
And because things are far from perfect — or really even in the same galaxy — with Juventus right now, they’re coming off a rescheduled midweek fixture against a relegation battler that hadn’t previously claimed a win when lining up against the Turin giants in a decade.
That makes the race for the top four even the more congested, the more pressing and just anything in between based on how you want to describe it.
So now, as Juventus return home after a disappointing performance against Parma at the Tardini, they now have to try and rebound against the worst team in Serie A this season. Monza, a team Juve barely beat a couple of days before Christmas, could very well end up being relegated to Serie B this weekend — something that has felt inevitable for months with how their season has gone. But Juventus, thanks in large part to how things went against Parma, now enter this final game of a three-week stretch against clubs just above or in the relegation zone in desperate need of points to try and get back into the top four.
A win over Parma would have done just that. But, as we know, things didn’t materialize the way in which Juve needed them to after waiting two extra days to face a Parma team that got a huge boost in their own fight to avoid the drop to Italy’s second division.
As much as Parma may have stabilized their poor form over the last month or so following a managerial change, the same can’t be said about a Monza side that hired Alessandro Nesta to replace the Fiorentina-bound Raffaele Palladino, fired him after the December loss to Juventus and then re-hired him seven weeks later when Salvatore Bocchetti was sacked.
Monza last won a game on Jan. 13, a 2-1 win over Fiorentina that had our friends over at Viola Nation wondering if the wheels were starting to come off Palladino’s bus. Since then, they’ve played 13 games. In those 13 games, they’ve only earned one more point (2) than they’ve had managerial changes (1).
For a club that was already in a relegation fight before the turn of the calendar to 2025, that is not the kind of form that makes you think avoiding Serie B is going to happen.
Yet this is the same Monza side that nearly held Napoli — you know, one of the two clubs currently tied atop the Serie A table — to a draw last weekend despite the fact they’re well-established as the team sitting in 20th place.
So this is Juventus’ task. Just four days after the first truly poor performance under Tudor, Juventus have to prevent further setbacks from happening against the worst team in the league. On paper, that sounds like something that should be relatively simple — which has usually been a situation in which Juve’s gotten into trouble this season more than a few times.
The hope was that Juventus facing three straight opponents just above or in the relegation zone would result in nine points in the bank and a decent amount of good vibes heading into the back-to-back fixtures against Bologna and Lazio. Instead, Juve are now looking to rebound following a loss to Parma in the middle of that three-game stretch.
Just another turn in a season full of weirdness and confusion, right? This is a season that obviously has been far from perfect, so the last thing Juventus need to see happen is capping off a week of in which they’ve already dropped points with even more dropped points against the last-place club that is on the brink of relegation.
Especially with Bologna on deck, Juve can’t afford anything other than three points at the Allianz this weekend. There really is only one option at this point in time.
TEAM NEWS
- Juventus manager Igor Tudor did not hold a pre-match press conference Saturday — which was likely out of respect for Pope Francis’ funeral taking place in Rome — so we don’t know for sure about some things after Wednesday’s loss. But there’s a pretty good idea bout who will and won’t be available Sunday night.
- The injury news coming out of the loss to Parma is a couple of days old at this point, but still important: Dusan Vlahovic will miss Sunday’s game against Monza due to a muscular overload in his right thigh.
- Also likely to miss out on Sunday’s game is midfielder Teun Koopmeiners, who has still fully not recovered from the Achilles injury that he picked up in the win over Lecce two weeks ago. Koopmeiners continues to train away from the rest of the group.
- Federico Gatti is the other player who has short-term injuries and won’t be available to face Monza. He is hoping to be available for Juventus’ big trip to Bologna next weekend.
- Then there’s the three long-term absences we won’t see again this season: Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal and Arek Milik. Bremer and Cabal have both posted on social media in recent days that they are back in the gym and doing strength work as they continue their respective rehab programs following surgeries for torn ACLs.
- Samuel Mbangula returned to training with the group Friday and is expected to be available to face Monza this weekend.
- Since next weekend is an important, this matters a little more: The three Juventus players one yellow card away from suspension are Andrea Cambiaso, Khephren Thuram and Timothy Weah.
JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH
Juventus find themselves in a situation where they don’t have many fullbacks to begin with. Then throw in. the shift in tactics from a four-man backline to one that has three at the back and requires wingbacks, and you’ve got even more of a situation that lacks natural options for Mister Tudor.
One of those options who is actually a natural fit for a wingback position got his first chance to do so from the start midweek. And he looked … yeah, not so great.
Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images
Andrea Cambiaso’s battle against his injured ankle has been a thing that has gone on for months now. Hell, it’s been a thing even before Juventus played Monza back in December, with the first blow to said ankle happening against Bologna in the first game of the month.
It’s what has seen a player who was playing very well before the injury pretty much failing to replicate that kind of form following his blocked shot attempt that ended up being months worth of issues with his ankle.
Is that an attempt to connect the dots? You better believe it, folks.
Cambiaso’s return to the starting lineup earlier this week was sluggish. He hadn’t been able to get many minutes in his legs since returning from his latest ankle-related setback a few weeks ago, and that’s on top of the usual ankle issues that he’s been coping with for months now. There was rust — and understandably so. But with his first start since Juve’s 4-0 walloping at the hands of Atalanta on March 9 now out of the way, the hope is that the rust is now mostly shaken off and he can get going again.
That’s easier said than done, of course. I’m sitting here writing this in a coffee shop and Cambiaso is the one who has had to get treatment on his ankle for months and play through considerable pain — enough to get pain-relieving injections! — for a good amount of time.
So while we don’t know if Cambiaso’s ankle is actually anything close to 100% entering the final month of the season, the hope is that him playing from the start is a sign it’s gotten better over these last few weeks. Now if only we can start to say that about how he’s playing overall — that sure would be nice.
MATCH INFO
When: Sunday, April 27, 2025.
Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. in Italy and the Central European time zone, 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12 p.m. Eastern time, 9 a.m. Pacific time.
HOW TO WATCH
Television: Fox Deportes (United States); Sky Sport 251, Sky Sport Calcio (Italy).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo, foxsports.com, Fox Sports app (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); OneFootball.com (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (Italy).
Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.
